Apple vs Samsung - Ethics

In the last two postings, Samsung has regretfully been a topic about poor Customer Service. The court decision in California upheld Apple's case about copying, indicating additional possible company culture issues? All of this is not a good use of company money by fighting in court (which directly affects profitability and brand image),....but it seems to be part of our litigious nature. What ever happened to the hand shake and person's word being their bond?

Sadly, not for many years now.

Ethics seems to stem from parental values, country values, educational reinforcement or lack there of, core values espoused by the company and reiterated/communicated in employee handbooks and demonstrated over many years, Leadership, and Senior Management values.

Do you agree?

Another Customer Service Issue for Samsung? Is it Endemic?

In my earlier blog, a recent experience with Samsung in the Philippines was highlighted. In fact, after several months in the Philippines, I never received an e-mail or text message from them about the status of the product of interest. To my knowledge the Galaxy Y Pro, Duo Sim has still not been launched there or in the US.

In a recent article in the New York Times, another poor to no Customer Service experience was high lighted (attached below as well as the link). Maybe, this is a more endemic problem going back to the culture of the company? It seems to go deeper than just to one or two people.

If you do a Google search, the two top sites to check out about Samsung customer service brings up:

Samsung Customer Service - Customer Service Score Board

In this survey (the above link) they ranked #344 out of 555 companies. Pretty poor to say the least.

The second site was Amazon's and it appears to be even worse. Many of these issues, at Amazon, were concerning Large Screen TV's and customer service related to them.

Amazon's Customer Service Discussions = HORRIBLE

Sadly, it seems that Samsung has a lot of work to address in the Customer Service area. This sure will not help their new product launches, or the recent court ruling between Apple and Samsung Jury Court Case in San Jose, CA where they were fined $ 1.05 Billion (Apple did not violate any Samsung patents). Apple Wins Big in Patent Case

It seems that they are lacking training, and core values that support a culture of good Customer Service.

While the stock price has doubled in a year and a half, the question is how much more growth could they have realized without these negative customer service (CS) reports. In the Amazon Discussions (link is above) there were a number of references to people not buying a Samsung product or being aware of the problems and "hoping" that they were "lucky" not to have problems that would necessitate the need to contact customer service. If this trend continues in CS, then the stock price and valuation, and their sales may have more than a few rough spots in the coming months and years.

The Haggler

A Printer Freezes Up, and the Maker Does, Too

By DAVID SEGAL

Published: August 18, 2012

Christoph Hitz

Q. In September 2010, I bought a Samsung all-in-one laser printer. It performed well until early 2012, when Samsung changed something in its toner cartridges. The cartridges have the same name and product number, but they no longer work with my printer. I realized this after buying and returning several Samsung-brand toner cartridges, all of which produced paper-feed and other problems.

I called Samsung support, and a rep told me that I could not use the new cartridges, and that, because my printer was beyond the one-year warranty period, a technician would have to come to my office, at my expense, to update the printer’s firmware. The charge for that visit, I was told, would probably cost as much as a new printer. In other words, Samsung made a change, without telling me or other customers about the change, that instantly made a relatively new printer obsolete and basically unusable.

Just as a comparison, the printer that was replaced by the Samsung was a Hewlett-Packard laser printer that I bought in 1995 that finally gave up the ghost after 15 years of use and many, many toner cartridges.

This seems like a case of planned obsolescence designed to enrich Samsung, does it not? Jon Showstack

Kentfield, Calif.

A. Let us stipulate at the outset that this is a strange case. The strange part is that Mr. Showstack unquestionably has the problem he describes — as we will later see, Samsung sends out a technician and confirms as much. But if the company actually manufactured lots of cartridges that did not work with printers of such recent vintage, you would expect a lot of noise on the Internet’s many complaint Web sites.

Instead, there is a little bit of noise, on sites like CNet. Not exactly an outpouring of rage.

When the Haggler wrote to Samsung, a woman named Rachel Quinlan, who works for the public relations firm Weber Shandwick, sent an e-mail that she said should be attributed to a “spokesperson” for the company. She declined to name that person.

Really? A spokesperson — a person who speaks for a living — who wants to be anonymous? Not only does this sound ridiculous, it also makes Samsung seem tin-eared. Actually, that is unfair to tin, which is far more supple than Samsung is in this circumstance. What consumers and the Haggler want when products break is some sense that human beings are trying to fix them. (Note to corporations: the anonymous spokesman is a dreadful idea.)

“We are sorry to hear of the problem described by Mr. Showstack and have investigated his concerns,” the person wrote. “Samsung printers work with all cartridges except counterfeit or gray market cartridges. To the best of our knowledge, the problem described by Mr. Showstack is an anomaly; and we have received no similar complaints from other customers on the referenced model. We have since spoken to Mr. Showstack and offered a courtesy on-site repair, which he has accepted.”

The part about counterfeit and gray market cartridges strongly implies that the problem here might be Mr. Showstack’s reliance on non-Samsung cartridges. But Mr. Showstack sent photographs of the cartridges and the boxes they came in, and they sure look like Samsung’s own. The Haggler forwarded those photos to Ms. Quinlan. She did not comment. Nor did the anonymous spokesperson.

As promised, Samsung sent a technician to Mr. Showstack’s office. It did not go well. The printer did not work with a new cartridge brought by the technician.

Ms. Quinlan then sent another e-mail from the anonymous spokesperson repeating that Mr. Showstack’s issue appeared to be an anomaly. And further: “Nothing indicates that there is a general compatibility problem with this printer model and replacement cartridges. Mr. Showstack has accepted our offer of an exchange unit so that we can bring his printer and cartridge to our labs and conduct tests to investigate the problem.”

The Haggler detects a lawyerly quality to the wording here. By saying that there is no reason to think there is a compatibility problem with this printer model and new cartridges, an obvious question is raised: What about other models?

Further, in trying to look into the problem himself, Mr. Showstack says he heard that Samsung had printed an internal bulletin stating that there is indeed a compatibility problem with the printer and cartridges he’s been using.

So the Haggler wrote to Ms. Quinlan: What about other models of Samsung printers? Do they have a compatibility problem? And is it true that Samsung has published an internal bulletin on this subject, suggesting that this is a known problem?

Here is Ms. Quinlan’s response, in its entirety: “We have no further information to share.”

Signoffs don’t get more Nixonian, do they? A technician did return to Mr. Showstack’s office and traded his faulty printer for a new one. The Haggler applauds that move, but was confounded a few days later when Ms. Quinlan wrote to say that Samsung’s tests had found that the root of Mr. Showstack’s problem was a faulty cartridge. Huh? A bunch of different cartridges had failed, not just one. 

When the Haggler said how nonsensical this explanation was, Ms. Quinlan replied with this: “At this point we have nothing more to share.” 

Less than illuminating, to say the least. But a fitting end to Samsung’s ham-handed approach to public relations. 

A Printer Freezes Up And the Maker Does, Too 

Improper vetting of Data on a Resume leads to Resignations at Yahoo!

As mentioned in a couple of earlier blog posts, making sure that the references check out and information on Resumes/c.v.'s is accurate before hiring someone, is critical and essential. This impacts the corporation on multiple levels:

1) Making sure that there is good "Job Fit" by contacting people who have worked with the individual before and how they have performed, and in "assessing" behavioral traits that fit with the position's benchmark, based on top performers.

2) Ensuring that the Ethics and Moral values of the person are consistent with the company's values, as this person's interaction with all levels of the company's personnel will have some effect, regardless of position within the company, from sanitary engineer on up.

3) Finding a replacement can take time and interrupts strategies or activities being handled by the individual in question and can set back the initiatives, by months to even years.

4) It affects the morale of of the company and personnel. The higher the position of the person or people in question, the broader the impact and negative affect on the company. In this most recent case at Yahoo!, which has been struggling to compete against Google, it casts ongoing credibility issues for the company, both internally and with shareholders. Morale and Credibility Issues follow Yahoo!

And:
5) In this case, it has affected not only the career of the individual who embellished his credentials, but also, regrettably another Board member.

Have all the shoes fallen yet? Only time will tell! There should be policy changes put into place to prevent a occurrence, that is clear.

Scott Thompson CEO of Yahoo! Resigns

Patti Hart of Yahoo! Resigns Over CEO's botched Academic Records

ETHICS, Drugs and Morality: How they affect Communication, Productivity and Everyday Life- Part IV

The recent study about Ethics (Higher social class predicts increased unethical behavior-from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the United States) was mentioned in yesterday's posting, but it merits greater attention, as it is as recent as January 2012. Also, many times, higher social class people tend to be in higher positions, for a variety of reasons, some warranted and some not. This study was mentioned in a recent Canadian TV newscast also.

The importance of this study is of interest because it states that the higher the social class, the greater the increase in unethical behavior. So, this supports why both pre-hire assessments should be used to help screen and identify these behaviors before hiring certain individuals, or at the vary least, the need to validate the results. Establishing benchmarks can be easily done around these issues. For non-profits these behaviors may be even more critical.

Even if these people are hired, then the company should use this information as Training Needs Analysis and possibly implement more frequent reinforcement in the beginning years of employment for these individuals. Or during the onboarding process, highlighting sections in the employee manuals, and if ethics is part of core values, then highlighting this also.

The significance of the study is important as it may also be a partial explanation as to why recently there have been so many abuses of fraud, stealing and and deception in high profile news stories. Only through Board oversight can the C-Suite and senior level employees be supervised. The rest of the organization should be supervised by watch-dog employees and HR scrutiny.

Below is the abstract from the above mentioned study. The link is in the first sentence above.

Higher social class predicts increased unethical behavior

1      Paul K. Piffa,1,

2      Daniel M. Stancatoa,

3      Stéphane Côtéb,

4      Rodolfo Mendoza-Dentona, and

5      Dacher Keltnera

+ Author Affiliations

1      aDepartment of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720; and

2      bRotman School of Management, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada M5S 3E6

3      Edited* by Richard E. Nisbett, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, and approved January 26, 2012 (received for review November 8, 2011)

Abstract

Seven studies using experimental and naturalistic methods reveal that upper-class individuals behave more unethically than lower-class individuals. In studies 1 and 2, upper-class individuals were more likely to break the law while driving, relative to lower-class individuals. In follow-up laboratory studies, upper-class individuals were more likely to exhibit unethical decision-making tendencies (study 3), take valued goods from others (study 4), lie in a negotiation (study 5), cheat to increase their chances of winning a prize (study 6), and endorse unethical behavior at work (study 7) than were lower-class individuals. Mediator and moderator data demonstrated that upper-class individuals’ unethical tendencies are accounted for, in part, by their more favorable attitudes toward greed.

ETHICS, Drugs and Morality: How they affect Communication, Productivity and Everyday Life- Part III

When asked WHY, after conducting pre-hire assessments of candidates, and drug screening prior to hire,  the client still has issues with employees who have been long term employees in the areas of ethics, drugs and morality...

The reason is relatively simple…

These are issues that need to be re-enforced over the years regardless of how we have been raised, taught and/or shown. Our personal situations change over time, and there are temptations and challenges that we are confronted with that test our resolve in these areas. Personally, I have observed that mid-life crisis years (male and female) increase the pressures on individuals and a number of people have changed or relinquished their values to regain where they had envisioned themselves to be at this stage in their career or life. Many times, this is because they possibly have felt that they have not attained the success they had expected to achieve at this stage of their life, or financial challenges have arisen at a stressful period of time, and many other reasons.

This is why it is essential that companies have reinforcement programs to remind existing employees of policies and standards that need to be followed. In a fortune 100 where I worked, after a several hour session of re-enforcement each year, we had to sign anti-trust and ethics standards each year.

These kinds of programs need to be implemented yearly as they can then communicate changes in existing  programs, or address questions that employees might have encountered through the course of the year.

In January of this year, at the National Academy of Sciences of the United States, a paper was included with the title of:  Higher social class predicts increased unethical behavior . Maybe this is ONE reason why so many recent instances of CEO and Senior Executives violating laws or absconding with money, in one way or another.

Ethics in particular is a major problem. Obviously, the well publicized cases in the past of Bendix’s

Agee, Enron, and what you can find in this article: The Corporate Scandal Sheet

And a recent Wall Street Journal article: Behind a CEO's Departure: An Ouster or Resignation?

Best Buy: Best Buy Probes CEO Relationship

MF Global : Fast, Furious at MF Global

Allan Stanford: Prosecutor Sums Up: Stanford Lied for Decades

AIJ Investment Advisors (Japan): Japan launches probe of all advisory firms in wake of AIJ case

Russell Wasendorf of Peregrine said in a statement that he forged documents and lied to regulators.

Hong Kong Billionaires Charged With Bribery

If you are not addressing these regularly, then do not be surprised when employees "fall off the wagon"….so to speak. These examples above, are the high profile ones, imagine the lower level employees and the numbers that exist there. The retail industry is well aware of the theft and losses involved. Does your Employee Manual address these issues? Are they not part of your core values? Is this not a key element to building human asset value and sustainability? So if you are not doing assessments during pre-hire, don't you think you should? Once people are on-board, re-enforcement programs are required. 

So the question is: What are you and your company doing to address these issues on a regular basis?

Ethics, Drugs and Morality: How they affect Communication, Productivity and everyday life Part I.

This is a broad but critical and essential topic(s) for the C-Suite, Board of Directors, and HR Heads. Why? Because, these impact almost every corporation at some point in time and on multiple levels. This costs trillions, not just billions of dollars/local currency on a global basis. The retail sector probably recognizes and deals with these issues the most often, however we are all confronted with them, and it is on a large scale.

In my many years in business, there has been some discussion about this topic but normally in general terms, and not with the URGENCY it deserves. It has been dealt with in a spotty manner at best, and non-existent during many others. This is not to say that the “sky is falling” but we need to address this and hear the drum beat.

You don’t hear the drums and cadence? Well let’s just mention a few instances: Bernie Maddoff and multiple ponzi schemes recently in the news running into the billions of dollars, WaMu, the Catholic Church’s issues with sexual abuse, Enron, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Solyndra,…the list is endless, unfortunately.

A recent replay of an interview with David Millar, a professional cyclist who was found to be doping and now openly admits it, brought this topic into sharp focus at this time and provides an excellent reference point. This interview provides the essence of what we are confronted with, not only in professional and amateur sports, but in our day-to-day business and management lives as leaders. To ignore it, or down play it, is at our company’s risk.

Recently, a couple of companies have asked in our discussions, why, after conducting assessment screening around these topics during the pre-hire, they have still found a few people stealing? The answer to the question is because at different points in our lives, we are challenged by circumstances that may dislodge us from our values, depending on how deeply they are ingrained within us and this is so frankly discussed by David Millar.

It is David Millar’s interview which so clearly addresses this issue. He had rejected doping for 7 years of his career and had no intention to ever dope. However, when he fell on a tough period, when he was no longer performing at the level of before, he decided he would and he did Dope!

He says that he didn’t do it so much for the money, but for his ego and to regain his reputation in the sport (the irony was lost on him at the time: that by doping and getting caught it had an even a greater negative effect on his reputation, than if he had just retired from the sport when he was no longer competing at the level of before).

Each of us is confronted with similar issues at various times in our lives and career. However, it is our ethics, view of drugs (and this takes many forms) and morality, and the depth we are inculcated with these values that provides the guidance for us to avoid these issues….. or, we surrender to the issue at hand.

A way to help provide the foundation for a company and it’s employees, is through reinforcement with written policies that need to be signed by each employee each year, regular training, and corporate communication around these values on an ongoing basis.

Some statistics that may be eye opening (from SHRM and other sources):

31 % admit to abusing drugs or alcohol

41 % say they falsified records

56 % of working people admit they lied to their supervisors

64 % use the Internet for personal use while at work

80% of computer crime is committed by company insiders

A majority of applicants stretch the truth on resumes!

  More than half, 55%, lied about the length of past employment.

  Past salaries, 52%

Criminal records, 45%

  Former job titles, 44%

Former employers, 34%

 Driving records, 33%

Degrees, 28%

Schools attended, 22%.

 Some 15% percent even falsify their social security numbers!

So, if you are not convinced by these statistics, then look around you at work. How many people do not show up to work on time? How many feel that if they work 7-8 hours a day, that is all that they need to do because that is what they are getting paid for? How many really understand where their salaries, commissions and bonuses come from? How many have a basic understanding of profit and loss?  Just because it is clear to you, is it really clear to others?

It is every employee’s responsibility to help articulate and support these issues. Only through vigilance can the theft of time, property, and erosion of values be prevented!

The challenges are for the C-Suite and Human Resources:

1)      Are pre-hire techniques being used to help avoid bringing in future employees with the wrong values?

2)      Once onboard, how much corporate communication and time is spent around core values, and especially these particular issues? Are policies in place in Employee Manuals?

3)      Are they reinforced and training provided, regularly? Are the investments being made? This affects all shareholders in one form or another.

Values come from the top down, but can be supported by all employees! These can clearly be shown to impact sustainability, survivability and profitability, as well as personal success, individual health and life issues and values.


Link to the interview:

David Millar, Cyclist, Drugs, BBC Interview

Not all Acquisitions or Strategies, Work

Not all acquisitions or strategies work, but you do need to know when to change before disaster strikes. Two recent articles have borne this out. The first is that HP will not sell off their PC unit and Republic Air decides to spin off Frontier Airlines.

Two questions might be asked.

How do you arrive at making an acquisition, and then deciding to sell it off?

Well, even sophisticated organizations make mistakes, but many times it is because of insufficient efforts in due diligence. Not only do you need to look in the area of financial diligence, but in the integration of "culture fit," "core values," and "strategy" integration. While Republic Air blames it on "fuel costs" it really appears to be much more. Most probably on of entirely different strategies that Republic Air has compared with what Frontier was. One is a "feeder line" versus a regional airline.

The other question, is why might you say you are going to sell off a business and decide to keep it?

Sometimes, it sounds like a good idea but when you look into the depths of the financial impact on the company, it doesn't look so great.  There can be hidden synergies within the company. Also, there can be the expediency in wanting to look like you are doing something, but in the end it isn't a good decision. Many times these are created by internal political powers that push or pull decisions or shareholders.

In the end, a good CEO will retract or make a hard decision to change course. One of the hardest had to have been Roberto Goizueta's famous decision to reformulate Coke in 1985. Massive amounts of PR and inventory had been expended. Then, 77 days later, the formulation was returned to it's original, being labeled "Classic." Mr Goizuleta's strategy was to encourage risk taking, and he remained as CEO for many years afterward, in spite of this massive mistake and cost to the corporation. Even most recently Coke changed their packaging back in the article below:
A Frosty Reception for Coca-Cola's White Christmas Cans

On the same day as the "Frosty Reception" above article about Coke, there is one about AT&T and T-Mobile (Deutsche Telekom AG) changing their acquisition strategy:
AT&T, T-Mobile Mull Plan B

So own up to mistakes, and cut your losses sooner rather than later. Hopefully, there will not be too many of them.


Republic Air Changes Course

Sales Characteristics for Success that are innate?

A recent article by Dr. Croner, indicates that most high performance sales people possess the following 3 innate personality traits which only about 20% of Sales people have. They are:

Need for Achievement
Competitiveness
Optimism

Personally, from experience, most people possess these, so it is doubtful that they are innate!

In an earlier blog article that was written based on Harvard Research, it was identified that "Challengers" created the most effective sales people, and these techniques can be learned. Obviously, some people may be more comfortable with these techniques than others, but if a person is committed, they can "flex" into the needs of the position, and over time they become engrained in the individual and drives success.

Existing Sales People in your organization present the greatest challenge because you have already employed them and the question then remains how do you, or can you, elevate them to be more effective? But the advantage is you have more information about them based around Thinking, and Behavioral traits and Interests, than you may have for people you may be looking to recruit or hire.

For an existing sales force, can you identify what generates a passion or a significant need which can drive the Need for Achievement within a person? It may take some effort, but from experience, most of the time it can be found. Then the objective is tapping into this internal "need" that this person has and structuring a compensation/benefit plan around this (these) needs.

Competitiveness can be created on some level. However, it is critical that this is created in a supportive manner and environment. Humans naturally are competitive, just look at the world problems which seem to revolved around the need to be heard or recognized.

Optimism, can also be addressed or taught. There are many methods which can be employed to change how a person views change and challenges, from meditation to structured courses.

So the objective is with existing Sales people, how to motivate the engage them to the point of wanting to grow and become more effective and professional. It may take effort, coaching/mentoring and involves some training costs, but it can be achieved. It favorably impacts company morale.

For Pre-Hire/Recruiting, there are effective assessments/tests and interview techniques to evaluate candidates by helping to minimize hiring the wrong people initially.  Obviously, the benchmarks need to be created around your Top Performers. Once these are set-up, then an in-depth interview(s) can help enormously in identifying people who should be successful.

Applicant tracking systems (ATS) can help in the process by "self-selecting" out people that will not have a good "job fit" based around initial knockout questions, and then around benchmarks/performance models. These ATS systems also need to be used to help identify effective marketing programs in attracting the best candidates not only initially, but those who will remain with your company(retention). These ATS systems can greatly save time and effort for your recruiting staff and generally can be easily cost justified around ROI's. This "tracking" information is critical for future hiring programs to attract the best talent.

The more tools and methodologies you use, the greater your success can be. Hire around "job fit" and you gain the slight edge in being a successful and sustainable organization!

Leadership Doesn’t Rest Just With Your Title, but...

This interesting article ( the link is below) talks about leadership and that everyone in an organization can effect change. This is so true and CEO's and senior managers should and need to encourage this kind of give and take at all levels within a company. It keeps an organization dynamic and changing, essential ingredients in sustainable and growing organizations confronted daily with global competition. Obviously though, the "effected change" needs to fit in with the core values and strategy of the company on some level.

Many of us have been thrust into management probably before we were really totally equipped for it. However, the key, regardless of being ready or not, is caring for people while also maintaining an eye on the goals and objectives each of us have. (And yes, even CEO's and Presidents have goals and objectives, they report to someone or something. More about that in another blog posting). Once we are placed in a management role, it then takes an individual to figure out how best to manage, to work with their direct reports, and as a result each manager has her/his own method/stamp in how to do this. Training helps, but it has to come from within a person, it isn't just trained in a cookie-cutter fashion. There are guide posts and methodologies that exist, but each of us have to internalize them to be successful, and we have to continually grow and experiment.

I am always amazed how things that I have learned at one point in my career, and that I was so effective in doing, have gotten rusty and need to be honed again, or needs to be changed in some fashion, to work again. That is the beauty of experience and the challenge we all have.

Some executives come into a company and implement or try to change an organization to look like what they did or created before. Personally, I have never found this to work. Even trying to bring in former employees that were so effective in one organization and parachute them into a new company, doesn't generally work. Why? Because it revolves around "Job Fit." It is a different environment and culture. The skills and competencies that worked in place, do not necessarily work as well in another. The company is a living, breathing, growing, changing organism, each as distinct as we are as people.

So being a leader necessitates listening, understanding, and helping to guide and encourage people, as well as the organization, through communication and articulating expectations, objectives and goals.

The major asset in any company is it's people. Products, services, manufacturing capability, technology and patents contribute to assets, but how many companies fail in spite of great products or services? Many successful companies, when purchased or merged with another company lose their identity or success. Why? The products and services are the same as before, but the interpersonal skills and personalities required, change within the newly created organization and may no longer work.

Listen to Jack Welch's interview on this topic:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuL2wu7j7vs

So, as leaders, our challenge is to tap into these all most mystical personalities we work with, to get everyone on board and pulling in the same direction. This is the challenge of being a leader, titles do not bring respect, it still needs to be earned, day by day and year after year.


Leadership Doesn't Rest on Your Title by Adam Bryant, interview with Terri Ludwig (Enterprise Community Partners):

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/21/business/terri-ludwig-of-enterprise-community-on-leadership.html?src=rechp

Analyze, Decide, Lead says Columbia's Business Dean

It is interesting that even Columbia's Business School is talking about "...weaving topics such as decision-making and ethics into classes across all disciplines." Assessments can help along these lines, and in pre-hire, ethics can be assessed, and of course a good background check will help validate the results.

Both good decision-making and ethics can help drive engagement  in an organization. The reverse can have detrimental effects on an organization's engagement from entry level, to Front-Line managers and to all management levels in an organization. This effects motivation, morale, and indirectly profitability and retention.It is the responsibility of HR and Senior Management to ensure that people with good ethics and with good common sense/decision-making abilities, are brought into the organization, as this helps to increase the asset value of the company, short and especially long term.

The question is, is your organization and HR focused on these issues, from Pre-Hire, On-Boarding, Training and Promotion? Don't you think that they should be? Shouldn't they be part of your Core Values? The decisions made today lead to the sustainability over time.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303365804576429974256934518.html